Pages

Friday, December 13, 2013

Wax-dipped glitter pinecones

Months ago when I was preparing to make my pinecone wreath, I mentioned how my girls were getting really into "pinecone" hunting with me. Every time we went running, walking to and from school or just around the neighborhood, we were hunting for pinecones.

Well, we over did it. By a lot. We could have made the worlds largest pinecone wreath, but alas, my door could not have held it. Sooooo what to do?

Wax-dipped, glitter-splattered pinecones of course!

At first my thought was to just make wax-dipped pinecones, tie twine or ribbon on them and use them as rustic Christmas tree ornaments, but I also thought my girls would get a hoot out of sprinkling glitter on some of them. In the end, I liked the glitter so much too that they ALL ended up glittery. :)

Glittery and on my "mantel."

I call it my mantel half the time without even thinking of it, but it is anything but...it's just a shelf in my dining room. But it's oh so fun to decorate.

I even used a scented candle, so now my dining room has a subtle smell of "cranberry spice." Quite nice actually.

And making the waxed and glittered pinecones was fun!

Keep reading to find out how to make your own.

1. It helps to have an awesome mom who likes to host fun things like this in her beautiful backyard. Oh, any yard or newspaper-covered table will do, but it was nice to do it in her yard. :)

2. You need a whole lot of pinecones.

3. You will need some wax. Lots of options for this, but I just went to my local thrift store and bought a donated Yankee Candle for a dollar. Nice.

4. We used an old pair of tongs and our fingers. Both worked just fine. If your wax is super hot then it might be handy to have some tongs around. That being said, be careful about making your wax too hot--too hot = too runny = won't stick to your pinecone well and you will need to dip it multiple times (as shown below). The wax in the above picture with the Yankee Candle is just right.

The wax in the image below is too hot and coats the pinecone too thinly.

5. Once the pinecone has the desired amount of wax on it, place it on some parchment paper and sprinkle with glitter.

We used combinations of white and red wax and white, red and gold glitter.

Then use them as you desire! I decorated my shelf with them by filling bowls and apothecary jars. I think they would also make lovely Christmas tree ornaments or garlands.